Bad Mann Experience

Lots has been said here about how great the Arclight Movie Theater in Hollywood is. I think it’s safe to say we all love and gush over it… yes, you pay more, but the convenience and ease of the whole experience makes seeing a movie pretty seamless. My boyfriend and I decided last night that it would be fun to catch the new 007, “Casino Royale” and see if the new guy, Daniel Craig could cut it. However, it was at the Chinese Mann theater at Hollywood & Highland… not our beloved Arclight, should we risk it? Hell! Why not get really crazy and try someplace new!

We bought our tickets online for the 10:20 show and were outside the majorly packed theater at 10:10. The line to pick-up the tickets was 40 deep. And one ticket person. The auto dispensers were the same. I got in line and 25 minutes later reached the person selling tickets. She couldn’t find my online ticket purchase and insisted it wasn’t bought with the card that I gave her. It’s my only mastercard, so I knew she was wrong, but rather than argue, I gave her an American Express and told her to charge new tickets and I would get a refund. After charging my card twice, with no tickets emerging…. she called her manager. Ten minutes later he showed up. They finally figured out the ticket machine wasn’t working, something we pointed out 25 minutes earlier.
It was now 10:45. He worked on the problem for another 10 minutes and finally just comped us in and promised that my card wouldn’t be charged (it was for the online purchase…. so we DID pay for them). We hustled into the theater just as the lights dimmed, watched four commercials, four trailers and FINALLY saw the movie.

Yeah, the Graumans Mann is beautiful, but the staff is sorely undertrained and the place is badly understaffed. It’s a bummer, because the Arclight doesn’t get all the movies…. but I sure don’t want to go anywhere else after this experience! Oh!!! The movie was fun and Daniel Craig… I liked him. Yummy buff body and good set-up for future Bonds.

One Reply to “Bad Mann Experience”

Here’s a tip, next time you pick your tickets up, go around to the upstairs/outside ticket kiosk. The one near the center escalators. I went last night, no one was in line for that kiosk. But when I went downstairs to go to the main screen, there was a line 15 people deeps for the kiosks down there.

There was about a 20 min line at the start of the trailers too. If I was smart I would have also gotten my popcorn upstairs too. But the chinese has the worst popcorn anyway, so better I skipped it.